Now, producers of the recently opened Priscilla Queen of the Desert have actually begun implementing the unthinkable—the producers of Broadway’s Priscilla Queen of the Desert have drastically cut the theatre’s live orchestra, and instead are forcing the remaining musicians to play along with a recording. Needless to say, theatre critics who reviewed the show have been appalled, calling it “synthetic to the core” (Time Out New York); “mechanical and monotonous” and “karaoke-inspired” (The New York Times); “a glossy costume party masquerading as a musical” (New York Daily News); “the songs… blend together into an undifferentiated morass” (everythingmusicals.com); and “an oversized karaoke party” (AM New York). This show deprives the audience of the robust, live musical experience they have every reason to expect.

The orchestrations were created more than five years ago and have been performed in productions in Sydney, Aukland, London and Toronto for thousands of performances prior to Broadway. There are elements in the sound of the ‘Priscilla’ score that cannot be recreated by live performance. These are the recorded manipulated sounds that accompany the live musicians who play every performance of the show.

I still haven’t forgotten the experience of seeing the celebrated revival of “South Pacific” at Lincoln Center, where the audience burst into rapturous applause partway through the overture simply because a cover over the pit opened to reveal the sight of an honest-to-goodness, Broadway-sized orchestra — an experience as rare for most of us as obtaining a $500,000 revolving charge account at Tiffany’s.